Light incontinence is a large and hidden handicap which causes sufferers to involuntarily leak urine. Although referred to as light incontinence in teems of the amount of urine leakage, the discomfort experienced by the person affected may be significant. Light incontinence is a well recognized problem among women, and there is a large variety of female incontinence guards to choose from. However, a large group of men also suffer from light incontinence, especially those with prostate problems. Following surgery, these men are usually afflicted by drip incontinence, which causes a great deal of suffering.
It is known that there is a large group of men who have not sought care for their incontinence problems and whose problems are not related to previous surgery. The size of this group is not known, but studies in certain countries show that light incontinence is a very widespread problem.
Due to the anatomical differences between men and women, and the differences in the nature of the incontinence, female incontinence guards are not suitable for male users. Furthermore, incontinence guards intended for heavy incontinence are unnecessarily large and uncomfortable to wear.
For this reason, male incontinence guards having a more discrete appearance have been designed. Such an incontinence guard typically comprises an absorbent body which tapers towards one end from a front portion of the article to a crotch portion of the article; i.e. it has an essentially triangular shape. When the incontinence guard is used, the wider front end portion is intended to be directed forwards in the direction of the abdomen area of the wearer, and the narrower rear end portion is intended to be directed backwards and extend a little way below the genitals of the wearer.
One example of such a construction is described in WO 91/07155, wherein the absorbent body is enclosed in a covering consisting of a liquid permeable top layer and a liquid impermeable bottom layer. The incontinence guard of this publication is provided with elastic threads or the like, which are applied with pretensioning to the covering on both sides of the absorbent body and which converge in the direction of the narrower end portion of the absorbent body.
One disadvantage of the construction according to WO 91/07155 is that undesirable folds extending from the absorbent body in the lateral direction can lead to urine leakage along the folds out of the article.
Several attempts have been made to solve the problem of lateral leakage towards the crotch region of the user. For example, WO 2006/062444 discloses a guard having the tapered construction described above and comprising an elastic element attached to the liquid-permeable surface layer along at least parts of the longitudinal side edges of the article, which element comprises an elastic material piece. A cut in the form of a slit or cutout is arranged between the attachments, and the cut extends from a front edge of the elastic element in the direction of a rear edge to an end point of the cut. A pocket intended to receive urine leaking in the lateral direction is thereby formed between the elastic element and the liquid-permeable surface layer.
Furthermore, the provision of elastic means along the longitudinal edges of the male hygiene article is disclosed in e.g. WO 1992/015269, EP 0 167 931 and EP 0 091 412. The elastic means provide a basin-like like configuration to at least partly surround the scrotum and to prevent lateral leakage.
Although the elastic elements of these publications or the pocket formed in WO 2006/062444 prevent lateral leakage, these means only act as physical barriers to prevent the most immediate discharge of urine. Furthermore, pre-tensioned elastic gather cover materials along the edges of the guard imparts a wrinkled, irregular diaper-like appearance, which may be regarded by the wearer as uncomfortable and may give rise to chafing. Hence, there is a need in the art to provide a male incontinence guard which is comfortable to wear and which provides for an efficient and more reliable prevention of urine leakage in the lateral direction.